Rear brake light problem

[zzoltan]

I have a problem with my 2000 Venture, the driver side brake light does not work. I do have power to that particular socket. I know this b/c when I turn the night driving lights on, that bulb does illuminate. Does anyone have any suggestions. I've examined the socket for damage and changed the bulb. I've looked at the fuses and wiring at the point of the tail light assembly and everything appears to be in order. If anyone can be of assistance I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

[jamx13]

I have a 2000 Venture. Recently, I began having trouble with the rear tail lights...all of them...signal, brake, & reverse lights. I removed the left tail light lens, then unclipped the long "socket strip". All the bulbs appeared good (no broken filaments) & the individual sockets looked good too (no signs of corrosion). Then I unplugged the socket strip from the wiring & looked at the plug & socket...I found signs of scorching/melted plastic around the ground pin (one of the center pins) & around the corresponding hole in the plug.

What I did was carefully gouge out the melted plastic, then I used a small piece of folded fine grit sandpaper to clean the blackened pin. I used a hot-melt glue gun to fill the area that I'd gouged out...the glue acted as "filler" & helped support the pin. Then I did a similar repair to that corresponding hole in the plug. I plugged it in & tried the signals...they worked! I tried the brakes...they lit up too! Tried the reverse lights...success! woohoo!

But it doesn't end here...lol! I found that if I applied the brakes when using the right signal, it caused the signal to flash very quickly, but this didn't happen when using the left signal (the one I repaired). So I removed the right tail light lens & found the exact same scorching around the ground pin. I made the same repair as above & now everything's working as it should!

[zzoltan]

Thank you. I will inspect the wiring & socket to see if there is any damage. Hopefully this will do the trick. By the way, I did notice on one of the bulb sockets (passenger side) that there was damage. I clear that and now it works fine. I'll let you know if it works.

[jamx13]

If you check this link, you'll find a list of all the recalls & tech service bulletins for the 2000 Venture. I'm guessing #12 may be related to your (our) problem.

http://www.alldata.com/TSB/11/0011AHGN.html